


Show & Tell

by ICanOnlyWritePoems



Category: Doki Doki Literature Club! (Visual Novel)
Genre: Emotional bonding with your loving girlfriend, F/M, Self-Harm, Wholesome, You and Yuri compare scars
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-18
Updated: 2018-02-18
Packaged: 2019-03-20 18:30:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13723527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ICanOnlyWritePoems/pseuds/ICanOnlyWritePoems
Summary: Yuri has something to show you.





	Show & Tell

You rinse out two mugs, before placing them on her counter. Yuri begins to carefully measure out the tea leaves as you fill the kettle from her sink. In some kind of wordless dance, you weave around each other- placing the water on to boil while she retrieves a bag of sugar from a nearby cabinet. It was a strange ritual, but one you had become rather used to. As usual, Yuri adds a little more sugar to your mug than to her own. Maybe it was Natsuki’s influence, but you had developed something of a sweet tooth. The rumbling of the kettle distracts from your musings, as you pour the boiling water into both the mugs. Yuri takes hers, you take yours, and you follow her up to her room.

As your feet sink into the soft carpeting on her stairs, you can’t help but wonder why she’d asked you round her house so suddenly. After the club meeting was concluded, Yuri approached you and told you she needed to speak about something. After quickly reassuring you that she wasn’t breaking up with you, she told you it’d be easier if you went to her house. You told Sayori of your plans, and that you wouldn’t be walking home with her- mock distraught, she made you promise to buy her a snack tomorrow as an apology.

Your eyes glance around Yuri’s room as the two of you enter. Pristine as always- after the years spent being friends with Sayori, it was a weird change of pace to meet someone who actually made their bed every morning. 

Yuri motions to the bed, and you take a seat on it- both of you placing your mugs on her bedside cabinet.  
“So, Anon… We’ve been dating for a few months now, and…”  
You give her time to compose her thoughts.  
“Y-you know I love you, right?”  
You reply with a smile, telling her you share the sentiment- doing your best to hide the dread slowly mounting within you. She takes a deep breath.  
“It’s… easier if I just show you.”  
Her eyes dart to the corner of her room as she slowly rolls up her sleeve.

Countless horizontal scars pattern her arm. Several faded red lines poke out of her skin, but the majority are thin white lines. They weave and thread across her porcelain skin, like rain against a car window. Your breath hitches in your throat as, after brief hesitation, she begins to roll up the other sleeve.

You can see her hands shaking as she slowly draws the fabric of her shirt up, over her forearm. This arm’s even worse. You can see the thin material of her sleeves actually rising as it passes over the more notable ones. Large keloid scars adorn the thicker skin on the sides and back of her arm, whereas the front is marred with the same thin red and white lines as her other arm. These seem different though- not only are there more of them, some of them seem fresh. You feel bile rise in your throat as you start to comprehend the extent of the damage she had inflicted upon herself.

You had suspicions- her strange behaviour at your house, flinching when you touched her arms- but you were never sure. The sound of gentle sobbing rips your eyes away from her arms, as you look up at your girlfriend.

“A-Anon, I’m sorry… I understand if you can’t love me anymore but- but it’s better than keeping this a secret from you!”  
Before she can continue, you roll up your sleeves; watching the expression in Yuri’s face change from panic to sadness.

“Anon… I…”  
You stand and embrace Yuri as she begins to sob into your shoulder. You gently stroke her hair, reassuring her that you understand. The scars (and, admittedly, scabs) lining your arms are more prominent than Yuri’s- be it from maintaining the habit for longer, or from simply cutting deeper.  
“W-why did you… I…They’re so much worse than mine.” She buries her head into the crook of your neck, her hands bunching together behind you and holding you tight. You can feel her tears leak through your shirt as you continue to soothe her. “Mine look… pretty small, compared to yours… they’re insignificant…”  
You kiss her cheek.  
“Yuri, just because my scars look worse… doesn’t mean that yours aren’t deeper. Your feelings are just as valid as mine- besides, I can’t exactly be proud of the fact that I did a better job of ruining my body than you.”

It takes Yuri a minute to compose herself. When she has calmed down a bit, she wipes her eyes and give a small chuckle. She gently pulls away, drawing her hands down your arms; running them over the scars before taking your hands into hers.  
“Anon… the tea’s getting cold…”  
You can’t help but grin as she passes you your mug. Both of you with your scars still on display, you sip the tea as her eyes dart over your arms. You notice them linger on a particularly large scar, on your right arm.  
“Oh, this one?” you say, as her eyes snap up to yours again. Before she can begin profusely apologising, you continue. “It’s fine, Yuri, don’t worry. I think this one was from a few years ago- I got in an argument with one of my friends.” When Yuri inquires as to what the argument was about, you can’t remember, and laugh to yourself before taking another sip of the tea. Jasmine- it’s nice, if a little lukewarm.

“…What about that one?” Yuri asks delicately, pointing to a circular scar on the back of your left arm.  
“Oh, I uhh…” You hesitate as you struggle to think of how to piece together the sentence. “Cigarette burn. My parents were angry at me for smoking, so I made it to try and help me to quit.”  
“I didn’t know you smoked, Anon. D-did it work?”  
You quickly dodge the question.

This continues for a while- Yuri points to the more notable scars on your arms, and you reply with stories about them. Any that look different, that didn’t heal properly. Sometimes, your memory fails you, and you don’t have an answer for her. Other times, you can recall the exact details. 

After steeling your resolve, you tentatively point to one of Yuri’s scars- a gash, vertical, down the side of her arm. It doesn’t look particularly deep- but the odd placement makes you wonder about it.  
“When I was 14, I got called on in class… I said the wrong answer, and people laughed, and I just-” She takes a deep breath. “I just kinda freaked out…”  
You were about to apologise for making her share, and for putting her on the spot like that; when to your surprise, she points to another. This one’s a deep red, almost purple-ish scar, one of the larger ones on her left arm. “This one was from when I had to do a presentation in class. W-we had to read stories that we’d wrote, and I got really nervous so I… Yeah.”

She points to another scar. “My parents were arguing…”  
And another. “I couldn’t sleep…”   
Running her hand down her arm, stopping on a curved scar. “This one look weird. I was 15…”   
Shyly pointing at a small pink scar. “Some boy… f-flipped my skirt…”

She continues rattling them off- having quickly warmed up to the idea of sharing. Some of her stories have her giggling softly, and others have her sighing with remorse. As she speaks, her body language becomes more emotive- her arms moving as she gesticulates. This causes her sleeve to slip down a little more- revealing a long cut on her forearm. Just below the elbow, it was previously concealed by her shirt. It looks fresh- a few hours old, and only covered by a small scab.

“Yuri, what about… this one?” you say, as you gently point to the wound. She freezes.   
Her face turns a bright red and she averts her gaze, staring into the corner once more.  
“I… I w… I was nervous about you coming over… so-”  
You embrace her again, feeling her heat against you. After a few seconds of hesitation, she hugs you back.  
“Yuri… I’ve got an idea.”  
She responds, unmoving, with a hum.  
“Let’s quit. Together.”  
She squeaks a response out, but you have trouble discerning it. You continue anyway.  
“I think that since we have each other- someone else to rely on- it’ll make it easier to stop.”  
“But Anon, it’s not exactly hard to lie about… this sort of thing.”  
“Well then, I guess we’ll just have to check each other every day!” you say, only half joking. You can feel her blush against you.  
She pulls out of the hug, and you look into eachother's eyes. You could swear you saw a twinkle within the deep violet.

“Okay Anon. If it’s together… I’ll do it.”  
She gives you a gentle smile, and pulls you in for a kiss.


End file.
